People often say that it was the internet that changed everything. But you can make just as strong a case that it was the iPhone that led to the biggest change in how we live.
The internet was popular in the 90s and early 2000s, but it wasn’t everything. Then the iPhone came along, and everything changed. It has had a positive impact on just about every aspect of life, including the gaming world.
In fact, it’s been so transformative that it’s essentially created a new industry — the mobile gaming market. Today, that market is worth nearly 50% of the entire gaming market, which is extra impressive when you think of the head start that the video game market had. That had been around for some 40 years before the iPhone turned up.
iPhone gaming, and mobile gaming in general, is very much here to stay. The future is bright. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the reasons why it’s had such an impact.
Making Gaming More Accessible
The iPhone has never been cheap (although there have been some highly affordable options), but then video game consoles have never been cheap either.
When you buy an iPhone, you’re getting a telephone, organizational tool, camera, and, among many other things, a gaming console. When you buy a video game console, you’re getting…a video game console.
The iPhone has helped to make gaming much more accessible, dramatically expanding the gaming audience. Even someone who had never played a game before would likely do so after they’ve got an iPhone, purely because it makes it so easy. Whether it’s playing a slot game online, learning how to play a digital version of chess, or checking out the games available in the App Store, the iPhone makes it as easy as possible to begin playing.
Increasing Quality
There were some people who predicted that the iPhone was a fad and that the public would soon turn their back on it. If you’d only seen the earliest iPhone games, then you’d probably agree with them. They were terrible; extremely basic, clunky, and basically never impressive.
But that was in 2007. In the years that have passed, the iPhone has become much more capable and, as a result, the games have become of a much higher quality. Today, mobile games are of a higher standard than the video games of yesteryear — and perhaps most importantly, they’re fun, too.
Types of Games Available
It’s not just the quality of games that makes the iPhone such a good gaming device. The range of games does, too. Though it’s a relatively new invention, the gaming options available on the iPhone are much broader than on, say, the PlayStation 5. With an iPhone, users can play the latest slot games at an online site, play word puzzle games within the New York Times app, or check out the hyper-casual games that are always popping up in the App Store. Video game consoles have, of course, fantastic games, but the range of options is more limited, perhaps because of the costs involved in developing a game for a console.
In contrast, the comparatively low cost of producing mobile-friendly games means it’s more straightforward to release a title. Dozens of new slot games might be released each week, whereas it might take months for dozens of great PS5 games to come out.
The Future: Ambitious Games Await
The mobile gaming world keeps getting better, and there are no signs that’s going to change anytime soon. The iPhone is becoming more capable all the time, and in the years to come we can expect to see more ambitious games being released. Resident Evil 4, perhaps the most advanced mobile game ever, was recently released, and it’s those types of titles that we’ll be seeing more of in the coming years. Who knows, perhaps by 2030, mobile gaming will be the premier gaming experience on the planet.
